With a low-budget campaign targeting Hispanics and fellow African Americans, Yarbrough finished second in the Democratic primary race for U.S. senator, qualifying for a July 31 runoff.

Next comes the hard part for Yarbrough, an East Texas native who's lived in San Antonio since 2000: Trying to outpoll hard-charging lawyer Paul Sadler from Henderson, who served in the Texas House from 1991 to 2003.

But Yarbrough sees no disadvantage in possibly being a newcomer to elected office.

“It's people with legislative experience who got us in this predicament we're in financially. Experience is not always the key,” Yarbrough said Thursday.

In November, the Democrats' runoff victor will take on the survivor of the higher-profile GOP showdown between Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and attorney Ted Cruz.

Yarbrough got 127,971 votes on Tuesday, compared to 173,947 for Sadler; 113,412 for Addie Dainell Allen and 79,981 for Sean Hubbard. It was the fourth statewide race for Yarbrough, a Tyler County product who ran unsuccessfully in 1986 and 1990 for the GOP nomination for land commissioner, and in 1994 as a Democrat for state treasurer.

Yarbrough bristles at any suggestion that he's capitalized on his familiar surname, similar to that of two statewide office-holders decades ago and one frequent candidate.

“They equate my familiar name to someone who was a senator 30-40 years ago. That's the mainstream media trying to sabotage my campaign,” Yarbrough said.

Ralph Yarborough served in the U.S. Senate from 1957-71. Don Yarborough ran for governor in 1962, 1964 and 1968. And in an election where name recognition was cited as a factor, Don B. Yarbrough won a seat on the Texas Supreme Court in 1977, but facing impeachment over forgery and other charges, served only six months.

Even with that history, Grady Yarbrough resents suggestions his name is a consideration.

“I had ideas and I had issues in those three campaigns, but they never talk about those things ... It's not that I'm trying to follow in someone else's footsteps,” he said.

Born in 1937 and educated in East Texas, Yarbrough said he taught in Chicago for 15 years and returned to the Tyler area in 1977 to teach until 2000, when he moved to San Antonio. He resumed teaching social studies at Sam Houston and Lanier high schools before retiring recently.

Having eyed the Senate seat for several years, Yarbrough paid a $5,000 filing fee to join this year's fray. Eschewing contributions, he said he's spent about $20,000 in retirement savings on billboards, mail and travel — mainly to target minority voters.

With the two-month runoff campaign, “I'm going to have to invest quite a bit more,” he said. “I do it all myself,” without consultants or volunteers, he added.

“I am doing selective campaigning. When there is a heavy Hispanic and African American population in those counties, I go directly to those places. That's how I've gotten to where I am now,” he said, adding that he's campaigned in Kingsville, Laredo and Brownsville.

Yarbrough and Sadler met briefly during the primary campaign in Dallas.

“He (Sadler) comes across as a person who's running on his experience, and he kind of downgraded the other three of us as not having any experience, and not being worthy of holding the office of senator,” Yarbrough said.

Sadler said he recalls Yarbrough as a “nice man” and meant no offense.

“If me describing my experience in the Legislature is downgrading to him, I can't help that,” he said, noting that as a House member he led the Public Education and other committees and shepherded major bills through the process.

“It's troubling to me that he would play that card, that because I have legislative experience that's somehow demeaning him. I'm not interested in downgrading him,” Sadler said.

Sadler said he can't take anything for granted in the runoff, especially with lingering impressions that Yarbrough is somehow related to a Yarborough.

“We picked it up the last week down from voters in South Texas that there were some people that thought he was related to Ralph Yarborough. I don't know how extensive it is,” Sadler said.